Medium Cool at the White House

WHEN Lyndon Johnson's personal effects were trucked out of the White House, they contained at least 500,000 pictures of the President, his family and subordinates, taken by L.B.J.'s ubiquitous official photographer, Yoichi Okamoto, 54. Okamoto had served the President as a sort of benign paparazzo during the White House years, recording most of L.B.J.'s waking moments and some of his sleeping ones, too. The photographer was a familiar sight at every Cabinet meeting, every National Security Council meeting. Johnson wanted Okamoto with him constantly, taking pictures of L.B.J. with Congressmen, L.B.J. with Kosygin, L.B.J. with grandson Lyn, even L.B.J. getting out of bed in the morning. Once, at his Texas ranch, Johnson directed Okamoto: "Get the back of that cow."

Now that Richard Nixon is in the White House, the atmosphere has turned medium cool; Lyndon Johnson's always verged on blowup. Nixon's official photographer, Ollie Atkins, 53, stays in the background. He usually sees the President only when other photographers do. He has been called on by Nixon for special photographs fewer than two dozen times. Nixon likes his privacy, and Atkins rarely goes along with him to the golf course or other leisure activities. As for the Nixon family, Atkins has so far taken just a few pictures. Says Atkins: "President Nixon considers his family to be private."

Nixon wants an adequate but minimal photographic record of his presidency, says Atkins, a veteran of 27 years with the Saturday Evening Post. He has trimmed civilians on the White House photo-lab staff from 11 to four and dismissed the 23-man newsreel team that used to follow President Johnson around. Also gone is L.B.J.'s computerized photo file. Marvels Atkins: "You could push one button and out would come pictures of Johnson smiling, push another and you'd get Johnson frowning. One of the first things we did was throw out that file."

Nixon's reserve does not indicate an increase in White House secrecy, says Atkins. Despite Okamoto's constant presence, Johnson was always very careful about which photos were released, screening each shot personally. "If a picture was disapproved, it would disappear forever," says Atkins. Nixon, in contrast, leaves such matters to Atkins. "You can photograph Nixon up and down, front and back," says Atkins. "He doesn't care."

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